Chapter 2

ROUND TOWERS OF THE CYCLADES.

On Friday evening, Nov. 19, 1852, a lecture was delivered before the members of the Literary and Scientific Institute of this island, by Capt. Graves, R.N., from which I have been permitted to take the following extract. The information contained in it, will doubtless be the more interesting to many of the reader of "N. & Q.," when informed that the round towers of Greece are fast disappearing; either from being pulled down for the erection of dwellings, or to be burnt into lime, by the Greeks who dwell in their neighbourhood. What the original dimensions of these towers may have been in ancient times, or for what purposes they were erected, are alike unknown; but their present proportions are as follow, and drawn by the learned lecturer from personal observation:

Feet. In. "A. Andros, near the port Height 60 0

B. Zea overlooking Perses Bay { Height 5 5 { Diameter 26 6 { Wall 2 0

C. Thermia { Height 11 0 { Diameter 28 5

D. Serpho { Height 15 0 { Diameter 27 0

E. Beach of Port Pharos { Height 7 0 { Diameter 31 8 { Wall 2 6

F. Hillock, west side of Pharos { Height 16 6 { Diameter 42 10 { Wall 3 0

G. Village of Herampili { Height 15 8 { Diameter 38 3 { Wall 4 to 2 6

H. Valley beyond villages { Height 11 10 { Diameter 33 5 { Wall 4 0

J. Short distance west of Mount Elias { Height 6 0 { Diameter 24 7 { Wall 5 0

K. Between Elias and west coast { Height 6 6 { Diameter 28 0 { Wall 4 0

L. Naxos, south-east end of the island Height 50 0

M. Paros, north, port Naussa. Of this tower only a few courses of the stones are left. It is however supposed to have been of the same dimensions as that of Naxos."

W. W.

Malta.

* * * * *

{426}

SHAKSPEARE CORRESPONDENCE.

_Songs and Rimes of Shakspeare._--I find in Mr. J. P. Collier's _History of Dramatic Poetry_ (a work replete with dramatic lore and anecdote) the following note in p. 275., vol. iii.:

"The Mitre and the Mermaid were celebrated taverns, which the poets, wits, and gallants were accustomed to visit. Mr. Thorpe, the enterprising bookseller of Bedford Street, is in possession of a manuscript full of songs and poems, in the handwriting of a person of the name of Richard Jackson, all copied prior to the year 1631, and including many unpublished pieces, by a variety of celebrated poets. One of the most curious is a song in five seven-line stanzas, thus headed: 'Shakespeare's Rime, which he made at the Mytre in Fleete Streete.' It begins: 'From the rich Lavinian shore;' and some few of the lines were published by Playford, and set as a catch. Another shorter piece is called in the margin,--

'SHAKESPEARE'S RIME.

Give me a cup of rich Canary wine, Which was the Mitres (drink) and now is mine; Of which had Horace and Anacreon tasted, Their lives as well as lines till now had lasted.'

"I have little doubt," adds Mr. Collier, "that the lines are genuine, as well as many other songs and poems attributed to Ben Jonson, Sir W. Raleigh, H. Constable, Dr. Donne, J. Sylvester, and others."

Who was the purchaser of this precious MS.? In this age of Shakspearian research, when every newly discovered relic is hailed with intense delight, may I inquire of some of your numerous readers, who seem to take as much delight as myself in whatever concerns our great dramatist and his writings, whether they can throw any light upon the subject?

Again: "A peculiar interest," Mr. Collier says, "attaches to one of the pieces in John Dowland's _First Book of Songs_ (p. 57.), on account of the initials of 'W. S.' being appended to it, in a manuscript of the time preserved in the Hamburgh City Library. It is inserted in _England's Helicon_, 4to., 1600, as from Dowland's _Book of Tablature_, without any name or initials; and looking at the character and language of the piece, it is at least not impossible that it was the work of our great dramatist, to whom it has been assigned by some continental critics. A copy of it was, many years ago, sent to the author by a German scholar of high reputation, under the conviction that the poem ought to be included in any future edition of the works of Shakspeare. It will be admitted that the lines are not unworthy of his pen; and, from the quality of other productions in the same musical work, we may perhaps speculate whether Shakspeare were not the writer of some other poems there inserted. If we were to take it for granted, that a sonnet in _The Passionate Pilgrim_, 1599, was by Shakspeare, because it is there attributed to him, we might be sure that he was a warm admirer of Dowland,

'whose heavenly touch Upon the lute doth ravish human sense.'

However, it is more than likely, that the sonnet in which this passage is found was by Barnfield, and not by Shakspeare: it was printed by Barnfield in 1598, and reprinted by him in 1605, notwithstanding the intermediate appearance of it in _The Passionate Pilgrim_."

May I inquire if any new light has been thrown upon this disputed song since the publication of Mr. Collier's _Lyric Poems_ in 1844?

The song is addressed to Cynthia, and, as Mr. Collier says, is not unworthy of Shakspeare's muse. As it is not of any great length, perhaps it may be thought worthy of insertion in "N. & Q."

"TO CYNTHIA.

"My thoughts are wing'd with hopes, my hopes with love; Mount, love, unto the moone in cleerest night, And say, as she doth in the heavens move, In earth so wanes and waxes my delight: And whisper this, but softly, in her eares, Hope oft doth hang the head, and trust shed teares.

"And you, my thoughts, that some mistrust do cary, If for mistrust my mistresse do you blame, Say, though you alter, yet you do not vary, As she doth change, and yet remaine the same. Distrust doth enter hearts, but not infect, And love is sweetest season'd with suspect.

"If she for this with cloudes do maske her eyes, And make the heavens darke with her disdaine, With windie sighes disperse them in the skies, Or with the teares dissolve them into rain. Thoughts, hopes, and love return to me no more, Till Cynthia shine as she hath done before."

J. M. G.

Worcester.

_Mr. Collier's "Notes and Emendations:" Passage in "All's Well that Ends Well."_--

"O you leaden messengers, That ride upon the violent speed of fire, Fly with false aim; move the still-peering air, That sings with piercing, do not touch my lord!"

Such is the text of the first folio. MR. PAYNE COLLIER, at p. 162. of his _Notes and Emendations_, informs us that the old corrector of his folio of 1632 reads _volant_ for "violent," _wound_ for "move," and _still-piecing_ for "still-peering."

Two of these substitutions are easily shown to be correct. In the _Tempest_, Act III. Sc. 3., we read:

"The elements, Of whom your swords are tempered, may as well _Wound the loud winds, or with bemockt-at stabs_ _Kill the still-closing waters_."

What is _still-closing_ but _still-piecing_, the silent reunion after severance? What is to _wound the loud winds_ but to _wound the air that sings with piercing_?

But as to the third substitution, I beg permission through your pages to enter a _caveat_. If {427} we had no proof from the text of Shakspeare that _violent_ is the correct reading, I fancy that any reader's common sense would tell him that it is more an appropriate and trenchant term than _volant_. "What judgment would _stoop_ from this to this?" _Volant_, moreover, is not English, but French, and as such is used in _Henry V._; but happily, in this case, we have most abundant evidence from the text of Shakspeare that he wrote _violent_ in the above passage. In _Henry VIII._, Act I. Sc. 1., we have the passage,

"We may outrun, By _violent swiftness_, that which we run at, And lose by over-running."

In _Othello_, Act III. Sc. 3., we have the passage,

"Even so my bloody thoughts, with _violent pace_, Shall ne'er look back."

These passages prove that _violent_ is a true Shakspearian epithet for _velocity_. But how exquisitely appropriate is the epithet when applied to the velocity of a ball issuing from the mouth of a cannon: and here we have full confirmation from _Romeo and Juliet_, Act V. Sc. 1., where we read:

"As _violently_ as hasty powder fir'd Doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb."

I trust that MR. COLLIER will not, in the teeth of such evidence, substitute _volant_ for _violent_ in correcting the text of his forthcoming edition.

C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY.

Birmingham.

* * * * *

GENERAL MONK AND THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE.

A document has recently come into my possession which may perhaps be deemed worth preserving in the pages of "N. & Q." It is a letter from the University of Cambridge to General Monk, and, from the various corrections which occur in it, it has every appearance of being the original draft. Unfortunately it is not dated; but there can, I presume, be little doubt of its having been written shortly before the assembling of the parliament in April, 1660, which led to the Restoration, and in which Monk sat as member for the county of Devon. The words erased in the original are here placed between parentheses, and those substituted are given in Italics:

My Lord,

As it hath pleased God to make your Excell^{cie} eminently instrumental for the raising up of three gasping and dying nations, into the faire hopes and prospect of peace and settlement, so hath He engraven you (r name) in characters of gratitude upon the hearts of all (true) _to_ who_m_ (cordially wish) the welfare of _this_ church and state (are) _is_ deare and pretious. (Out) From this principle it is that our University of Cambridge hath, with great alacrity and unanimity, made choyse of your Excellency with whom to deposite the(ire) managing of theire concernments in the succeeding Parl^t, w^{ch}, if your Excell^{cy} shall please to admitt into a favourable (interpretation) _acceptance_, (you will thereby) you will thereby (add) _put_ a further obligation of gratitude upon us all; w^{ch} none shalbe more ready to expresse than he who is

Your Excell^{cies} most humble serv^t, W. D.

[Endorsed] To the L^d General Monk.

Who was "W. D."? Was he the then Vice-Chancellor?

LEICESTRIENSIS.

* * * * *

Minor Notes.

_Curiosities of Railway Literature._--Has "Bradshaw" had any reviewers? If not, an example or two from this neighbourhood, of the absurdities which reappear month after month in the time-tables, may show the necessity of them. A Midland train proposes to leave Gloucester at 12.40 p.m., and reach Cheltenham at 1 p.m. The Great Western Company advertise an express train, on the _very same line_, to leave two minutes _later_ and arrive five minutes _earlier_. It is therefore obvious, that if these trains were to keep their proper time, the express must run into the slow coach in front. The Great Western Railway Company have also, in a very unassuming manner, been advertising a feat hitherto unparalleled in the annals of railway speed,--the mail from Cheltenham at 8.20 a.m. to leave Gloucester at 8.27; that is to say, seven miles, including starting, slackening speed at two or three "crossings," stopping, starting again, all in seven minutes! Let the narrow gauge beat this if it can.

H. H.

Gloucester.

_Cromwell's Seal._--I am in possession of a fine seal; it is a beautiful engraving of the head of Oliver Cromwell, and was once his property: he presented it to a favourite officer, whose nephew, to whom it was bequeathed, gave it to the father of the lady from whom I received it a few years ago. Thus I am in the singular position of being the _fifth_ holder of it from the Protector.

Y. S. M.

Dublin.

_Rhymes upon Places._--Buckinghamshire:

"Brill upon the Hill, Oakley in the Hole, Shabby little Ickford, Dirty Worminghall."

H. T.

Ingatestow.

_Tom Track's Ghost._--The following piece of metrical romance has dwelt in my memory as long {428} as I have been able to remember. I have never seen it in print, nor heard it, at least for some years, from any one else; and have not been able to discover who wrote it:

"Tom Track he came from Buenos Ayres; And now, thought I, for him who cares: But soon his coming wrought me woe; He misled Poll,--as you shall know. All in the togs that I had bought, With that ere Tom she did consort, Which gave my feelings great concern, And caused a row,--as you shall learn. So then challenge Tom I did; We met, shook hands, and took a quid; I shot poor Tom.--The worse for me; It brought his ghost,--as you shall see. Says he, 'I'm Tom Track's ghost, that's flat.' Says I, 'Now only think on that.' Says he, 'I'm come to torment you now;' Which was hard lines,--as you'll allow. 'So, Master Ghost, belay your jaw; For if on me you claps a claw, My locker yonder will reveal, A tight rope's end, which you shall feel.' Then off his winding-sheet he throwed, And by his trousers Tom I knowed; He wasn't dead; but come to mess, So here's an end,--as you may guess."

The _implicatio_, the _agnitio_, and the _peripetia_ are so well worked out, that Aristotle would, I think, be compelled to admit it as an almost perfect specimen of that most ancient kind of drama which was recited by one actor. I refer especially to C. XXII. of the _Poetics_, which says, that that _agnitio_ is most beautiful which is joined with the _peripetia_, of which here we have so striking an example. These reasons embolden me to ask if it be worth preserving in "N. & Q," and who was the author?

W. FRASER.

Tor-Mohun.

* * * * *

Queries.

JACOB BOBART AND HIS DRAGON, ETC.

Dr. Zachary Grey, in his edition of _Hudibras_, vol. i. p. 125., relates the following anecdote:

"Mr. Jacob Bobart, Botany Professor of Oxford, did, about forty years ago (in 1704), find a dead rat in the Physic Garden, which he made to resemble the common picture of dragons, by altering its head and tail, and thrusting in taper sharp sticks, which distended the skin on each side till it mimicked wings. He let it dry as hard as possible. The learned immediately pronounced it a dragon, and one of them sent an accurate description of it to Dr. Maliabechi, Librarian to the Grand Duke of Tuscany: _several fine copies of verses_ were wrote upon so rare a subject, but at last Mr. Bobart owned the cheat: however, it was looked upon as a masterpiece of art, and as such deposited in the anatomy schools (at Oxford), where I saw it some years after."

Can any of the readers of "N. & Q." inform me where I can procure the _several_ fine copies of verses, or where they are to be seen, and any other particulars relating to Jacob Bobart?

Where can I procure copies of the following, mentioned in Wood's _Athenae Oxon._, vol. iii. p. 757.:

"Poem upon Mr. Jacob Bobards Yew-man of the Guards to the Physic Garden, to the tune of the 'Counter-Scuffle.' Oxon. 1662."

On one side of a sheet of paper.

Also:

"A Ballad on the Gyants in the Physic Garden in Oxon, who have been breeding Feet as long as Garagantua was Teeth."

On one side of a sheet of paper.

H. T. BOBART.

* * * * *

BISHOP BERKELEY'S PORTRAIT.

The following letter may perhaps have some interest in itself; but I send it for insertion in the pages of "N. & Q." in the hope of obtaining some information about the pictures which it mentions. It is addressed on the back, "The Reverend the Provost and Fellows, Dublin College;" and in the corner, "Pr. Favour of The Right Hon. Lord Viscount Molesworth;" and does not appear to have ever passed through the post.

Reverend Sir, and Gentlemen,

My late dear Husband, the Rev. Dr. Berkeley, Prebendary of Canterbury, son of the late Lord Bishop of Cloyne, having most generously appointed me sole executrix of his will, and having bequeathed to me all his fine collection of pictures, &c., I trouble you with this to beg to know whether a very remarkably fine, universally admired portrait of Bishop Berkeley, in his lawn sleeves, &c., painted by that famous artist Vanderbank, which, together with its frame (now much broken by frequent removals), cost five hundred pounds: the back-ground, the frontispiece to his Lordship's _Minute Philosopher_, and the broken cisterns from the Prophet Jeremiah: "They have hewn them out broken cisterns." The late Archbishop of Canterbury was perpetually entreating Dr. Berkeley to present it to the Gallery of Lambeth Palace, where there is already a very good portrait of Bishop B.--But _justice_ to my dear excellent son, then living, as Dr. B. told his Grace, precluded a _possibility_ of his complying with his request.

If this picture will be an acceptable present to the Rev. the Provost, and the Gentlemen Fellows of the University of Dublin, it is now offered for their acceptance, as a most grateful acknowledgment for the _very high_ honour[1], they were pleased {429} so graciously to confer on his Lordship's only descendant, the late learned accomplished George Monk Berkeley, Esq. (Gentleman Commoner of Magdalene Hall, in the University of Oxon., and student of the Inner Temple, London), from his very sincerely grateful mother.

Some time after the death of his son, Dr. Berkeley told me that at my death he wished the wonderfully fine portrait of his father to be presented to some place of _consequence_. I immediately replied, "_To Dublin College_." He said, "They have one already; perhaps it would be well to leave it as an heir-loom to the Episcopal Palace at Cloyne." I said perhaps the gentlemen of Dublin College would prefer this, esteemed one of the very finest pieces of painting in Europe. The face certainly looks more like a fine cast in wax, than a painting on canvas, as numbers of the best judges have always exclaimed on seeing it.

I request Dr. Berkeley's noble relation, the excellent Lord Molesworth, now on a visit in Ireland, to deliver this, and to learn from the Provost and Gentlemen of the University of Dublin, whether it would be agreeable to them to receive this, and transfer the one they at present have to Dr. Berkeley's highly respected friend, the _present_ Bishop of Cloyne, for the Palace. Lord Molesworth will have the goodness to receive and transmit the answer of the Provost and Gentlemen to her who has the honour to subscribe herself, with the most perfect respect, their

Very sincerely grateful and (Thro' her unspeakably dear excellent Son) _Most highly_ obliged, ELIZA BERKELEY.

Chertsey, Surrey, England. The 18th of Feb., 1797.

I cannot find any evidence to prove that this letter was ever so much as received by the University. It came into my possession amongst the papers of a private friend, a late distinguished ornament of the University, whose death has been an irreparable loss to the public, to the Church of England, and to a large circle of friends. No notice of such a letter, or of so liberal a donation, is to be found in the Register of the University, nor is there such a picture in our possession. I have made inquiry also, and find that it is not at Cloyne. The conclusion therefore is, either that Mrs. Berkeley changed her mind, or that from some accident the letter never was presented: at all events, it is certain that the picture of Bishop Berkeley, to which it relates, was never in the possession of the University for whose halls it was intended.

Can any one tell me where it now is; and what was the fate of "the fine collection of pictures" which was the property of Dr. Berkeley of Canterbury, and bequeathed by him to his widow, the writer of the above letter?

J. H. TODD.

[Footnote 1: This alludes to the honourable degree of LL.B. conferred upon George M. Berkeley by the University of Dublin, Nov. 8, 1788.]

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_Life._--Is it not the general feeling that man, in advancing years, would not like to begin his life again? I have noted that Edgeworth, Franklin, and Sismondi express the contrary.

A. C.

"_The Boy of Heaven._"--I have a poem entitled _The Boy of Heaven_, copied some years ago from a manuscript. Can any of your readers inform me who is the author, whether it has ever appeared in print, or give me any other information respecting it?

W. P.

_Bells._--Can any of your readers inform me why the bells of the Convent of Santa Theresa, at Madrid, alone have the privilege of tolling on Good Friday, in that city? In all Roman Catholic countries the bells on that day are forbidden to be rung; and there is no exception made, even in Rome.

As much has been said about the _baptizing_ of bells, as if it were a custom nearly or entirely obsolete, I beg to say that I was present at the baptizing of a bell in the south-west of France not very long ago; and have no doubt that the great bell at Bordeaux, which is to have the emperor and empress as its sponsors, will undergo the full ceremony.

CERIDWEN.

_Captain Ayloff._--Where can I find any notices of Captain Ayloff, one of the coadjutors of Tom Brown in the eccentric _Letters from the Dead to the Living_?

V. T. STERNBERG.

_Robert Johnson._--Perhaps some of your correspondents could give me some information relative to the pedigree of Robert Johnson, Esq., who was a baron of the Exchequer in Ireland in 1704; his parentage and descent; his wife's name and family; his armorial bearings; and date of his birth and death.

Was he the Robert Johnson who entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1671, as a Fellow Commoner at the age of fourteen? If so, his birthplace was London, and his father's name was also Robert.

E. P. L.

Co. Westmeath.

_Selling a Wife._--What is the origin of the popular idea, that a man may legally dispose of his spouse by _haltering_ her, and exposing her for sale in a public market? Some time ago the custom appears to have been very prevalent; and only a few months back there was a paragraph in _The Times_, describing an occurrence of the kind at Nottingham.

French romancers and dramatists have seized upon it as a leading trait of English society; and in their remarkably-faithful delineations of English life it is not unusual to find the blue-beard milord Anglais carting milady to Smithfield, and {430} enlarging upon her points in the cheap-jack style to the admiring drovers.

V. T. STERNBERG.